The present invention relates to a plug electrical connector, and particularly to a plug connector with a reduced width.
Electrical components in a computer need to be smaller, thinner and shorter to meet the developmental trend toward miniaturization in computers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,942 discloses a prior art electrical connector 1' as shown in FIG. 4. The electrical connector 1' comprises a base 20', an insulative housing 30' receiving a plurality of conductive contacts 50' and being partially received in the base 20', an upper cover 10' mating with the base 20' and a pair of latching members 40' partially retained in the base 20'. Each latching member 40' comprises a retaining portion 42' retained in a slot (not labeled) defined in the base 20' and a resilient portion 41' extending from and aligned with the retaining portion 42'. A barb (not shown) is formed on a free end of the resilient portion 41' of each latching member 40' for latching the electrical connector 1' with a mating connector (not shown). The upper cover 10' comprises a pressing portion 11' stamped and formed for pressing the resilient portions 41 ' of the latching members 40'. In use, the pressing portion 11' is pressed downward against the resilient portions 41', causing the resilient portions 41' to bend downward. Thus, the barbs of the resilient portions 41' will bend downward at the same time to facilitate extraction of the plug connector 1' out of the mating connector. It can been easily seen that the width of the pressing portion 11 ' needs to be wider than the distance between the pair of resilient portions 41', and thus the width of the retaining portions 42' of the latching members 40', which unavoidably causes the entire electrical connector 1' to need a large overall width to accommodate the pressing portion 11'.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art electrical connector.